Discoveries

May 19, 2023

The Ancient Replacement Theory

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For years, scientists believed that around 42,000 years ago there was one major migration of early modern humans into the European continent from Africa, where they had first appeared 300,000 years ago, before migrating onwards to Asia and Europe.

Now, after studying tens of thousands of stone tools found at archeology sites in France and Lebanon, researchers say they were wrong: There were actually three distinct waves of migration and these started 10,000 years earlier than originally thought, Cosmos Magazine reported.

Oh, and already living in Europe were the occasional early modern human loners that had wandered in, too, as shown by a skull with these features found in Greece that dates back at least 200,000 years.

To arrive at these conclusions, scientists examined recent Paleolithic sites Ksar Akil in Lebanon and Grotte Mandrin in southern France, which show that Homo sapiens arrived in Europe between 54,000 and 42,000 years ago in three distinct migration waves, according to a new paper.

The researchers say that further examination of these migratory patterns will help establish a clearer picture of the events that saw H. sapiens spread across Europe, eventually replacing our close human cousins, the Neanderthals.

“The study shows that this first Sapiens’ migration would actually be the last of three major migratory waves to the continent, profoundly rewriting what was thought to be known about the origin of Sapiens in Europe,” said study author Ludovic Slimak.

This story originally appeared in the May 19, 2023 newsletter, Tough Love.